Children’s Minister and gay rights campaigner Katherine Zappone said the apology was “so historic”. She said it would be emotional for her that the State is acknowledging the harm that was done by the law.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the change in the law did not end discrimination, but it “did set off a chain of actions which have changed our country unquestionably for the better”.

Like Mr Varadkar, he paid tribute to Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the justice minister in the Fianna Fáil- Labour coalition that repealed the legislation.

Mr Martin said she insisted the Dáil should see it as a human-rights issue and rejected attempts by some to keep some inequality in the law.

Mr Martin said there are many countries where homophobia was still promoted by governments. He singled out Russia and nations in Africa.

“Commemorating progress in our own country is an empty gesture if we do not speak up for those in other countries who are suffering,” he said.

In the Seanad, Mr Norris said gay people had been “ashamed and terrified” under the old laws.

He quipped that it was “extremely gracious of the Government to issue an apology for a bill that didn’t originate in this country”. He said it had been a British law, and the Irish people were “always generous, decent and compassionate”.